JRM Racing event summary

Abu Dhabi

Double second first time out for JRM Racing

It was a successful start to the season for JRM Racing in the first
round of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship, when Richard Westbrook and
Peter Dumbreck scored a second place in both the first and second of
today's one-hour races at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. For
team-mates Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr in car 23, the day started well
when the German paring finished third in race one, but a difficult race
two saw them cross the line in 14th place.
Qualifying

The competition between the 18 cars taking part in the opening round of
this global sports car championship started with a qualifying session on
Friday evening. A concerted effort by all four JRM Racing drivers meant
that both cars went through to Q3 - where the positions for the top
eight places are decided - with Westbrook/Dumbreck qualifying in sixth
and Luhr/Krumm in eighth.

Qualifying Race

Both JRM Racing Nissans got away well from the rolling start, with
Westbrook - who was first to drive car 22 - moving up to third place as
other cars became tangled in a first corner incident. However, Krumm in
car 23 had to take evasive action and slotted into fifth place when all
the turn-one activity died down.

The following laps saw Westbrook right behind the Ford GT of Fredrik
Makowieki, with never more than a second separating the two cars, right
up until the mandatory mid-race pit stop to change drivers and tyres.
Krumm also maintained his position behind the two Sumo Power GT Nissans
and, following a quick stop by the JRM Racing crew, Luhr emerged from
the pits in fourth.

Whilst Dumbreck, now in car 22, continued the fight with the Ford GT
ahead of him - now driven by Maxime Martin - Luhr was gaining pace and
passed Enrique Bernoldi in his Nissan on lap 23. Although Dumbreck
tried, he also could not get past the Ford and, for the remaining eight
laps, the top three positions stayed the same, seeing JRM Racing with
two cars in the top three in the team's first ever appearance.

Championship Race

With the finishing positions of race one dictating the starting
positions for race two - the Championship Race and where most of the
points are scored - the team were delighted to see both its Nissan on
the front two rows of the grid. As the lights went green, Dumbreck was
quickest off the rolling start, so much so, he thought he might cross
the line before the car in pole position and momentarily lifted off.

This allowed Bernoldi to get past and into the lead, with the JRM Racing
driver slotting into second. In a repeat performance of the race one,
Dumbreck hounded the leading car, right up until the pit-stop and again,
was unable to find a way past.

Luhr also had to lift-off the throttle at the start, when he found
himself sandwiched between two cars, the subsequent loss of momentum
seeing him drop to seventh on the opening lap. With his Nissan running
well, he started to fight his way back up the field but, on lap ten, an
Aston Martin lunged into the side of his car so hard that it punctured
the left-front tyre.

The German had no choice but to come into the pits to change a wheel -
frustratingly, just one lap before the window opened for the compulsory
wheel and driver-change. Krumm took over for the second half of the
race, but with so much time lost, there was little chance of finishing
in a points-scoring position. However, he discovered that car 23's
suspension had been damaged in the earlier incident and, even with it
handling strangely, he still went on to set a series of impressive lap
times and brought his car home in 14th place.

Meanwhile, due to a drive-through penalty because Ricardo Zonta - now
driving the leading Nissan - was hit by the Ford GT of Makowieki in the
pit lane, Westbrook emerged from his and Dumbreck's pit-stop
expecting to be in the lead, but because of a super-fast tyre change by
the Hexis Aston Martin crew, Stefan Dusseldorp was now in front by a
margin of nearly seven seconds.

Lap-by lap, Westbrook reduced the gap until, on lap 27, he was less than
half-a-second behind the leader and now in a position to overtake. But,
try as he might, he could not find a way past the Aston Martin. He
eventually crossed the line just 0.474 seconds behind and delighted to
take a double second-place for JRM Racing in his first event for the
team.

This result puts Wesbrook and Dumbreck second in the Drivers'
Championship standings and JRM Racing second in the Teams'
Championship. The second round of the FIA GT1 World Championship takes
place at Zolder in Belgium on 9th & 10th April.

As a mark of respect following the country's recent disasters,
both of the team's Nissan GT-Rs carried stickers which read:
'don't give up Japan'. In addition, all team members
wore black armbands during race-day.

Team Quotes

Peter Dumbreck (Car 22)
"It was great to finish second in race one, which set us up well
for a front-row position in race two. My start was so good I lifted, as
I thought I might have gone too soon, which meant Enrique (Bernoldi) got
by. The car felt good so I could stay with him, but as the tyres got
hotter I couldn't make the move to get by. You have to take the
points that are on offer and that's what Richard and I did today
and we intend to do the same for the rest of the year."

Richard Westbrook (car 22)
"If someone had said to me before this weekend I would have had
two second places in my debut with JRM Racing, I would have been
delighted. When I took over from Peter in this evening's
championship race I was surprised to be six seconds behind the leading
Aston Martin and, although I was able to catch it, there just
wasn't the chance to get past. I'm pleased to say that
everything is working well with Peter and the whole team, so I'm
looking forward to Zolder."

Michael Krumm (Car 23)
"I was pleased with the strong performance of the Nissan GT-R
today and to finish third in the first race. The second race was not
what it should have been, but even with the car not driving in a
straight line after Lucas was hit at the end of his stint, I was still
able to lap at a good pace, which shows the potential is there when
everything is right."

Lucas Luhr (Car 23)
"I was very happy to finish on the podium in my first ever race in
the Nissan. I was therefore hoping that the second race would be just as
good, but I was squeezed out at the start. Perhaps I backed off too much
as I dropped to seventh, but when I got hit and had to make a pit stop
because of a puncture, that was it for my race. However, because of the
performance today, I am optimistic about the rest of the season."

Nigel Stepney (Team Manager and Chief Engineer)
"For the first round of the championship the whole team did a
great job, especially Peter and Richard for driving two strong races and
finishing in second place twice. Michael and Lucas went well in the
first race, but the problems in the second denied them another podium.
We have a few things still to improve on for this year, but all-in-all
today's been a good start to the season."

James Rumsey (Team Principal)
"All of the team did a really good job: The preparation of the
cars was excellent and they performed well. I'm really pleased
with car 22's results. It was a shame about the problems that
slowed car 23 in the second race, especially having finished third in
the first, but to lie second in the Drivers' and Teams'
Championship is a good position to be in after the opening round."